Mulheres no climatério: estado nutricional, qualidade de vida e desempenho sexual

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century there was an increase in life expectancy in the world. This increase reflected in a growing number of women in menopause, leading them to experience changes not previously experienced. These changes are caused by several factors, such as biological, sociodemographic, cultural and psychological and all these factors can influence the quality of life of these women. It is expected that in the coming years a greater number of women seek health services, with complaints arising from menopause. This study aimed to analyze the nutritional status, quality of life and sexual performance in postmenopausal women aged 40 to 60 in the city of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais. We developed a crosssectional study with a quantitative approach with a non-probabilistic sample composed of 253 menopausal women. We evaluated the nutritional status by body mass index (BMI) for characterization of overweight and obesity. To assess the quality of life we applied the MRSmenopause rating scale. The sexual performance was evaluated by the Sexual Quotient Quiz - Female Version (QS-F). The distribution of overweight was 30.8% and of obesity was 35.2%. The mean BMI was 28.1 kg/m² (SD = 5.6). Do not have a house, have severity symptom by evaluating the MRS, make use of continuous medication and have made some kind of diet were associated with overweight and obesity. Regarding the symptoms of menopause, 45.2% of the sample reported severe symptoms and 9.1% said they were asymptomatic. The most chosen pattern of sexual performance was the “Regulate to the Good” with 31.8% (62 women) while the patterns “Bad to the Unfavorable” and “Null to Bad” obtained 9.7% and 4.1% respectively. We conclude that most of the women showed no significant changes in sexual performance demonstrating that aging does not determine the end of sexual life. The high proportion of overweight and severe symptoms highlights the need of effective interventions to improve local quality of life and body weight control.